The drive mechanism had no direct connection between the engine and the rear wheels. Instead of a flywheel, a generator and a horseshoe shaped magnet were attached to the rear of the engine's crank shaft.


On the forward end of the car's drive shaft, was an electric motor with an armature fitted into an air space inside the whirling magnet. Electric current, transmitted by the engine's generator and magnet attached to the armature of the electrical motor, providing the energy to turn the drive shaft and propel the engine's rear wheels. Speed for the car was controlled by a small lever adjacent to the steering wheel.

The Owen Magnetic was the perfect vehicle for the first decade of mass produced automobiles, since it has no clutch or gear shifter. In 1916 hybrids made more sense than they do today because early manual transmissions were such a bear to operate. Most cars of the era had straight-cut gears and heavy clutches. If you were a man or a woman with a bad leg, or you simply weren't able to drive, shift, and double-clutch at the same time.

The car's other advantage was its electric brake. There's a cockpit lever that turns the traction motor—the one that drives the rear wheels—into a generator. So when it's time to slow down, you move the lever, and the resistance provided by the motor slows the car and charges the batteries—the same kind of regenerative mode that's found in today's hybrids.